ABC Television Network

kathi damitio    surprise, USA

Posted at 10:33am on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

And...you don't think ABC and the rest of the alphabet media aren't in the tank and giving you both sides of issues, eh?

I dare you to read ALL of this.

Support The DrudgeReport; Visit Our Advertisers

ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE
Tue Jun 16 2009 08:45:10 ET

On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Highlights on the agenda:

ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.

The network plans a primetime special -- 'Prescription for America' -- originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.

The Director of Communications at the White House Office of Health Reform is Linda Douglass, who worked as a reporter for ABC News from 1998-2006.

Late Monday night, Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Ken McKay fired off a complaint to the head of ABCNEWS:

Dear Mr. Westin:

As the national debate on health care reform intensifies, I am deeply concerned and disappointed with ABC's astonishing decision to exclude opposing voices on this critical issue on June 24, 2009. Next Wednesday, ABC News will air a primetime health care reform “town hall” at the White House with President Barack Obama. In addition, according to an ABC News report, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, WORLD NEWS, NIGHTLINE and ABC’s web news “will all feature special programming on the president’s health care agenda.” This does not include the promotion, over the next 9 days, the president’s health care agenda will receive on ABC News programming.

Today, the Republican National Committee requested an opportunity to add our Party's views to those of the President's to ensure that all sides of the health care reform debate are presented. Our request was rejected. I believe that the President should have the ability to speak directly to the America people. However, I find it outrageous that ABC would prohibit our Party's opposing thoughts and ideas from this national debate, which affects millions of ABC viewers.

In the absence of opposition, I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda. If that is the case, this primetime infomercial should be paid for out of the DNC coffers. President Obama does not hold a monopoly on health care reform ideas or on free airtime. The President has stated time and time again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime.

Respectfully,
Ken McKay
Republican National Committee
Chief of Staff

MORE

ABCNEWS Senior Vice President Kerry Smith on Tuesday responded to the RNC complaint, saying it contained 'false premises':

"ABCNEWS prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers -- of all political persuasions -- even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABCNEWS is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue.

"ABCNEWS alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president. Like any programs we broadcast, ABC News will have complete editorial control. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience."

Developing...

This is DISGUSTING and right out of the playbook of Mussolini, Hitler, Chavez & Castro (just to mention some names we're all familiar with) & if you don't believe me, PLEASE go to sources other than what is comfortable and do some research. We're in trouble, folks and we're letting these networks lead us by the hands unto the slaughter.

mike atros    burbank

Posted at 10:52am on Friday, May 29th, 2009

anyone who makes a post on here to complain needs to find something better to do with their time.

if you've ever seen the view they use the word "bitch" atleast onece per show. just because this is the first time you've pried you focus from you bon bons and noticed is no reason to complain...its just a word

the people picked the winner of dacning with the stars...thats fair the judges are there for a critique on the tech aspect. if canada hates it so much that they can't vote make your own dancing with the stars...oh wait you don't have any!

before complaining about movie previews you should research the movies. first all previews are rated suitable for all audiences no matter the movie rating. and the second movie "drag me to hell" in its self is rated pg13. if your kids have a problem with a pg trailer you've got other problems to worry about!

if you watch a voting reality show and the people u voted for didn't win get over it the people picked the winner and u lost don't blame the show its self!!

u people are sad.

Karen Dunn    The Villages Fl

Posted at 5:34am on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Not that you care, but we will never watch ABC ANYTHING again. That Dancing With The Stars final was a joke. How could you let that happen. Bye Bye - and I'll bet you lose lots of other viewers.

gary Adler    Santa Monica

Posted at 3:39pm on Monday, May 18th, 2009

Why is ABC selling advertising time to "R" rated movie trailers during an afternoon basketball game? I was in a room full of kids yesterday watching the Lakers/Rockets game when trailers for Pelham 123, Taken, and some movie about the depths of Hell came on. ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Company who should be ashamed of themselves for letting greed interfere with a fun Sunday afternoon of sports. Really disgusting and just not okay at all. What is happening to our/your civility?

Audrey Thomas    Canada

Posted at 9:24pm on Monday, May 11th, 2009

About "Dancing With the Stars"

I am very disappointed with the results for the last 2 years. The way the program stands now, you no longer need the three judges as it does not matter if you can dance or not, it simply matters that the fans like you. We in Canada can not vote, at all, neither can any other country, So even if we wanted to only americans can vote. You should stress that fact. Imagine fans get 5-10 votes each??? Talk about being fair. There are a lot of people like me in Canada so I do not think your program is going to be popular here. Sorry but you did this yourself.

Cocoloco    North Hollywood

Posted at 10:40am on Thursday, April 30th, 2009

I heard KABC just laid off 10 people from their station.

Kay Bierma    Mankato, MN USA

Posted at 9:49am on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

I watched "The View" show this morning and was disappointed with the use of the word "Bitch" on this show. I don't appreciate this type of wordage and will not be looking for this show in the future.

robert heizelman    san marcos CA

Posted at 4:33pm on Saturday, March 28th, 2009

I have been trying to find out who carries the liabilty insurance for IDOC in boise,because they did very bad things to me while I was in prison there,and I want to personally write the insurance companies that handle this policy,to explain to them what happened to me there it is up to them to decide whether or not to pay me and settle my claims.
A lot of things happened to me,and I have 2 suits in federal court about them now,not on the things I am going to tell you though,and I told them if they did not settle my cases I would start to bring this stuff out through news and internet,plus contact anyone I can think of that will get this info.out like you for instance.
they can keep trying to hide these facts but sooner or later they will come out,and when they do it will probably cost the insurance companys a lot more then if they settled with me,as I tried to be reasonable with them and contact them send them a settlement offer ect.they did not even bother to respond,to say no,and treat me like a piece of garbage,with no human rights at all.
so I sent details to all your news places there and next week I will start to try to get this info. out to national places,because what was done affects a lot more people then just me,and if they start investigating this maybe they will investigate me and my personal cases,I hope so,because nobody cares about the truth there it seems like.Or what they did to me personally.
What went on is this,the prison kept escalating there harrassment of me and it got real bad,they would keep me on the same tiers as people they knew hated me,the prison gangs run them tiers,and when they want an inmate to leave tier,they tell him to move,if he does not they take turns banging on the walls in shifts to keep inmate awake,this will go on for days,and as in my case they would not let me leave,the co's there,no matter what,there next step is to have the person that lives above you mix up urine and feces in a bottle and pour it down,thru the air vents into my cell,and this goes on for days also even though every co in there is aware it is going on,but they still won't move you,once after about 14 days'I secretly put this guys DNA sample in an envelope and sent it to the federal court to get them to move me,as locked up in seg,how would I get that unless someone was useing my vents as there own personal toliet,like I told them,this type of thing went on 2 years for me,moved for a little while but always brought back to the same cell,and tier no matter who I contacted or what I said,to courts or anyone,about this and I have all the paperwork to prove this went on for years,copies of letters grievences they ignored ect.this cell was last one I was in before leaving and they had to really beat me up to put me there again and same thing went on.
I would throw this out under my door,and all co's even knowing what it was would just walk thru it for days rather then clean it up,besides that most of these people were not liking this but they didn't call the shots,only do as they were told,and that was leave it.
so everyone in there was aware of exactly what was going on,and a lot of them I do not blame at all,because it is very ridgid disipline,and only the high ranking co's call the shots there.
after going thru this and doing a lot of thinking on it I realized that what went on didn't affect only me but everyone including the co's this stuff has been going on for years under there eye,and they use this tactic on inmates they don't like,sort of like me,from what I heard from others,that had been there a lot longer then me.It happened to them also,in past,this is like torture,and was to me.
they do not realize that them vents contain very bad things and the air is circulated,and this builds up year after year because vents are welded and there is no access,to clean them properly,I a'int a doctor but you don't have to be one to figure out this stuff is not healthy to anyone involved,not just me that they put there sights on,all good things come to an end so then so with all bad.
and I am going to do all I can to expose these people in my limited means unless they settle my claims,because mainly what they did to me is wrong,so either tell this to the insurance company or I can, if you send me there EMAIL,and maybe I can't get this out and all are safe,I don't know,but I do know this I am going to give it my best shot,if they want to roll the dice and get exposed in the future to a lot more claims that is there problem,mine is to win my cases only and the only way I can do that is put this out on internet 8 hours a day till somebody listens,as that is my new job.It doesn't pay much but keeps me out of trouble.Robert Heizelman 760 500-3872 A lot more things happened to me there then just this,but I was hoping to use this to bring it all out by major media.

mrs carole kupec    wilmington nc 28412

Posted at 11:58am on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

I am so disappointed that you've cancelled Dirty sexy money and pushing daisies, not to mention men in trees and will traveler a couple of years ago.

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 12:07pm on Monday, February 2nd, 2009

On January 30, 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that ABC will eliminate 5% of its workforce:

Walt Disney Co.'s ABC television division, pressured by a downturn in the economy that is depressing advertiser spending, said Thursday that it was trimming its workforce by 5%, becoming the latest media company to make cutbacks.

The Burbank-based television group said it would eliminate 400 jobs by letting go 200 employees and leaving another 200 positions unfilled. The cuts are to be spread across all of Disney's television operations, including the flagship ABC broadcast network, ABC News and the cable networks Disney Channel, ABC Family and SoapNet.

"Change is never easy and becomes even harder to embrace during times of turbulence and uncertainty," Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney/ABC Television Group, said in an e-mail to staff members. "After months of making hard decisions across our businesses to help us adjust to a weakening economy, we're now faced with the harsh reality of having to eliminate jobs in some areas."

Disney's sports network ESPN said this week that it would shed about 200 jobs this year. The Bristol, Conn.-unit also is freezing the salaries of senior executives.

The layoffs come just two weeks after Disney disclosed that it awarded Chief Executive Robert Iger $30.6 million in compensation in 2008, an increase of 11% from 2007. The boost came despite a 5.5% drop in net income during the entertainment giant's last fiscal year as consumers reined in spending, reducing profit at its theme parks as well as its television stations and networks that rely on advertising. Disney's revenue climbed 7% to $37.8 billion.